The Emotional Side of Stereotypes in Virtual Reality

Imagine standing in a virtual world where every move is tracked, emotions are measured, and even hidden biases start to show. It might sound like science fiction, but this is actually the frontier of social science. In our recent study, we looked at how virtual reality can shed light on stereotypes and prejudice by capturing brain activity and emotional responses during simulated encounters between different groups.

Stereotypes and Emotions: A Complicated Mix

Stereotypes are ideas we have about other people, but they also come tied to emotions that shape how we treat different groups. People tend to perceive and stereotype social groups based on warmth (are they friendly or threatening?) and competence (are they capable or incompetent?). Together, these judgments spark feelings like admiration, pity, contempt, or even disgust. For instance, groups viewed as competent but cold often provoke envy, while groups seen as both cold and incompetent tend to stir contempt.

Traditionally, research on prejudice has leaned heavily on surveys, where people are asked to report their feelings about different groups, an approach that comes with limits. People often struggle to describe or recall their own biases accurately, and their responses may be influenced by social desirability, that is, the tendency to answer questions or behave in ways that make them look good to others. Virtual reality offers a way around these problems.

Bringing Encounters to Life

In this experiment, we created immersive 360-degree VR scenarios where participants, all members of Finland’s ethnic majority, watched video encounters with individuals from different social groups. The participants viewed Finnish, Somali, Russian, and Brazilian individuals approaching them, slowly entering their personal space. While this was happening, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) recorded their brain activity, allowing us to track emotional reactions in real time.

Why use VR here? Unlike traditional lab tasks, VR creates an experience that feels immediate and real. Participants respond instinctively, in ways that mirror how they might react in an actual face-to-face situation, and because these reactions were captured through neural activity rather than self-reports, the study could bypass the problem of people under- or mis-reporting their own biases.

The Power of Proximity

The results showed clear patterns. Encounters with avatars from groups stereotyped as low in both warmth and competence often triggered discomfort and contempt. In contrast, groups perceived as warm but less competent evoked mixed emotions, including both happiness and unease.

Interestingly, emotional reactions changed over time. In the first few seconds of an encounter, responses were largely driven by preconceived stereotypes. However, as people moved closer, proximity became a key factor in modulating emotions. The closer an individual from a negatively stereotyped group got, the more discomfort the participants felt. Even in a virtual setting, closeness could feel threatening.

What This Means for Prejudice Reduction

These findings underline something important: stereotypes are not abstract ideas we carry in our heads, but are deeply tied to emotions and can be triggered instantly. At the same time, the study shows how virtual reality can be used to explore these responses in a way that is both controlled and realistic.

Could virtual reality also help reduce prejudice? That is the next big question. If closeness heightens discomfort, perhaps mindfully designed virtual encounters could turn that dynamic on its head. By giving people repeated opportunities to interact and cooperate with outgroup members in virtual reality, it may be possible to replace threat with familiarity. Over time, what once felt uncomfortable could start to feel normal, even positive.